Parallels

Sara Sefchovich's long profile of the Mexican First Lady in Gatopardo makes her subject seem like the perfect combination of Laura Bush and Michelle Obama. The author, despite many ideological disagreements with Margarita Zavala, clearly admires her, and Zavala's prudence and reserve are like iced tea to the turpentine of Martha Sahagún's naked ambition. And yet:

In the magazine Poder, a journalist described Margarita Zavala as a "lawyer, feminist, and ideologue".

It's a description that is based on the fact that Margarita has fought for the rights of women, not only for the opening of political spaces but also what is called ending the violence, for salary equality, against discrimination, education, and health. 

Nevertheless, there are two aspects that are the heart of feminism itself and in which Zavala has been profoundly conservative: in her speeches about the family and about sexual and reproductive rights. 

For example, when she states that she is "a promotor in marriage because it has treated me very well" (as she said to Katia D'artigues who published it in the newspaper El Universal) she is assuming that here experience is valid and optimal for everyone, being that the family doesn't have one unique model but rather a great diversity of forms and methods of functioning and that, therefore, it's something for which you can promote just one. 

[Break]

It's that Margarita is sure that not only are her values the correct ones, but that they are the only ones and, furthermore, they're universal.